sexta-feira, 27 de fevereiro de 2009

Chef to Obamas: Way to Go!

In November Alice Waters sent a letter to the President-Elect and Mrs. Obama, offering her services and those of Ruth Reichl, editor-in-chief of Gourmet and Danny Meyer, owner of several highly regarded restaurants in New York, to become their kitchen cabinet and help them select a new White House chef who would embrace “environmentalism, health and conservation.”

Some people in the food community thought it was brilliant; others thought it was cheeky.

Fast forward to February.

Michelle Obama is way ahead of the would-be advisers. Without hiring a new executive chef or taking up Ms. Waters on her offer, the Obamas have made the local/sustainable food community so happy that the Chefs Collaborative is letting them know how much they approve of their early efforts to help Americans change the way they eat.

So far 300 members of the 3,000 member organization, a group committed to sourcing and cooking with local and sustainable ingredients, have signed a congratulatory letter to the President and First Lady.

Since the letter is not going to be delivered until Earth Day, April 22, the organization will have plenty of time to gather more signatories, who already include the usual suspects: Dan Barber (Blue Hill), Peter Hoffman (Savoy), Suzanne Goin (Lucques) and Rick Bayless (Tompolobampo, a favorite of the Obamas).

“The purpose of our letter is to applaud what the Obamas have begun to do, encourage them to keep going, and offer our help, expertise and full support,” said Bruce Sherman, chef-owner of North Pond Restaurant in Chicago and chair of the collaborative.

When the letter was first drafted in December, 2008, the chefs could only hope the Obamas were on the same wave length.

Now that Michelle Obama has spoken out on a couple of occasions, including a press conference in the White House kitchen before the Administration’s first official dinner they know she is on their side.

She put in a pitch for the superior flavor of local and sustainable food and for healthy eating, a recurring theme for her during the campaign and since she has come to Washington.

Sam Kass, the chef who cooked local, sustainable and healthy food for the family in Chicago is now an assistant chef in the White House kitchen. And both the executive chef Cristeta Comerford and the pastry chef Bill Yosses, well known to many New Yorkers who enjoyed his work at Bouley, made it clear they, too, cared about sourcing ingredients locally and regionally.

Mrs. Obama had high praise for the chef’s healthy creations, remaking on the creamless “creamed” spinach on the menu that evening and she spoke glowingly of several “creamed” soups Chef Comerford had made that were also without cream.

“We’re thrilled with the chefs the Obamas have working with them in the White House,”said Melissa Kogut, executive director of the collaborative. “We just want to say ‘yea’ and ‘keep up the good work.’”

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Portrait of Obamaby Kim Gledhill

Quotes

“When I take that oath of office, there will be kids all over this country who don’t really think that all paths are open to them, who will believe they can be anything they want to be. And I think the world will look at America a little differently.” - Barack Obama, 2006

"I didn't come here to debate the past. I came here to deal with the future ... We must learn from history. But we can't be trapped by it." - Barack Obama, Summit of the Americas 2009

“To those who would tear the world down: we will defeat you. This is our moment. This is our time.” - Barack Obama

"Sasha and Malia, I love you both more than you can imagine, and you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the White House." - Barack Obama

"'I think people will see that I'm not afraid to have folks around me who complement my strengths and who are independent. I'm not a believer in a government of yes-men. I think one of the failures of the early Bush Administration was being surrounded by people who were unwilling to deliver bad news, or who were prone to simply feed the president information that confirmed his own preconceptions." - Barack Obama

"I would not be running for President if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation - the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election." - Barack Obama

"The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice." - Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Electing a black president says around the world that you can overcome old wounds. I’ve said in our case, We have a birth defect, but it can be overcome." - Condoleezza Rice

"Things do change. There is a God. They do get better." - David Dinkins

“I think that Senator Obama brings a fresh set of eyes, fresh set of ideas to the table. I think that Senator McCain, as gifted as he is, is essentially going to execute the Republican agenda, the orthodoxy of the Republican agenda with a new face and a maverick approach to it, and he’d be quite good at it, but I think we need more than that.” - Colin Powell (endorsing Obama on 19/10/08)

"I will vote for the individual I think that brings the best set of tools to the problems of 21st-century America and the 21st-century world regardless of party, regardless of anything else other than the most qualified candidate." - Colin Powell

"The United States of America is an extraordinary country. It is a country that has overcome many, many, now years, decades, actually a couple of centuries, of trying to make good on its principles. And I think what we are seeing is an extraordinary expression of the fact that 'We the People' is beginning to mean all of us." - Condoleezza Rice

"[Obama] is running for president of all Americans, not just African-Americans. [We] must be careful not to segregate Senator Obama and impose some litmus test that is unfair and unproductive." - Rev. Al Sharpton

"Welcome to the murky world of modern racism, where most of the open animus has been replaced by a shadowy bias that is difficult to measure. As Obama gently put it in his race speech, today's racial 'resentments aren’t always expressed in polite company.' However, they can be — and possibly will be — expressed in the privacy of the voting booth." - Charles M. Blow

"Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you're going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them and even if you don't agree with them. And Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these values and pass them on to the next generation, because we want our children and all children in this nation to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them." - Michelle Obama

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"I would not be running for President if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation - the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election."- Barack Obama

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